2 minutes later we emerged from the cockpit in front of some very startled looking passengers, and opened the cabin door. Lena saluted them and said "We're going outside, and we may be some time." Then, she turned about, dropped neatly from the door, caught herself by her fingers and fell to the ground. We, rather more clumsily, followed suit. Now it was Vassily's turn to lead as we loped across the grass towards a mass of trees not far away. As we came close we heard the sounds of propellors....
Bursting through the trees, we found ourselves in a clearing out of sight of the terminal, and two Yak-12s, one behind the other, engines running. Ahead was a long strip of treeless land. A man in an airforce jacket ran over and Vassiliy bearhugged him, pummeling his back heartily. "You've no idea how pleased I am to see you, Oleg!" "You too Vassily....you too.... I read in the papers about your "treason" and prepared things as ordered. It wasn't unexpected and the muck that's running the country now will be after me soon anyway... so I came. They'll never take me alive, I'm a Soviet pilot and I serve you now as I would in war." "You're a good man, Oleg. I hope you live" said Vassily, and motioned us to crowd into the Yak. Then we were off.
Looking behind as we took off, the General at the controls, I saw Oleg's Yak gain height quickly and then peel off first left and then sharp right, heading inland towards the interior. We, however, flew at no more than 5 metres above the ground until we were well out of sight of the airport, and then headed left towards the coast.
Swooping low around a headland, we started to follow the coast eastwards....there were only 3 seats, so it was pretty cramped, but we had other things on our minds.... like the possibility that, any minute now we would be spotted and sent cartwheeling from the sky like a broken kite.
Soon we had passed the airport, with hills in between us and them, and were buzzing through the calm September evening, totally alone in the sky. Vassily said "I think it worked. Oleg's got company. He must avoid close visual contact or they'll know they've been decieved."
"He's being pursued by Migs! Trying to shake them by flying through valleys at tree-top height."
"Oleg, you can do it!!"
"Oleg?!!! Oleg? Oleg!!!!.......He's gone."
The General tore the headphones off and hurled them to the ground, then pummeled the panel with his fist. "Those bastards!"
Silence reigned for a while before I found courage and said "I'm sorry, Vassily. He was a brave man."
"And a good friend... I just hope it was enough to distract them until we can get away..."
"Er, General... Don't mean to bother but where exactly are we going?"
"To Kamchatka. And then to Alaska, if we're lucky. It's not too far now."
"To Alaska? Now, in this?"
"No, the range is too low, we're going to set her down soon and then a couple of boys'll be picking us up in the morning."
Soon we were on final. 'This place is called Jamskaya Guba. The seaplane will arrive at first light.'
Vassily set us down nicely near the water's edge as the last rays of the sun bled from the sky.
We sat in our tents in sleeping bags, not wishing to light a fire for fear of attracting attention, and ate a cold dinner of pickled fish, dark bread and grapes which Oleg had thoughtfully packed for us, before turning in for the night. Tomorrow would be a Busy Day. I'm glad I didn't know how busy...
To be continued soon....
Here: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 20;start=0
Thanks for your patient reading, comments as always welcome....
Krigl
If you're interested in this nice plane you can download it here....